How to import WAV from Audacity to DP-24

[krd1749]

My dad owns a Tascam DP-24. He recorded some songs and edited them in Audacity. After he was finished editing, I exported each track to a WAV file and tried copying them back into the audio depot folder, but when I click "import" on the DP-24, it says "Caution: Can not import" and does not work. He needs the files back on the TASCAM so he can do the final mix down and mastering there.

I don't know anything about recording or programming, and I'm trying to help him figure it out. If anyone can explain to me what is wrong in layman's terms I would appreciate it.

Thanks a lot!

 

[BobV55]

The first thing that comes to mind is that the WAV settings of your exported files has to match the settings for the song that they're to be imported into. For example, if your Audacity exports were 16 bit, 44.1 kHz, then the song into which they're imported has to have been created with those same settings.

 

[Jimi Jones]

Great response BobV55,

May I add also, before exporting out of "Audacity" make sure to name your individual tracks to something simple, i.e. "Keys" or "Bass", "Drums", this way the DP-24 can easily recognize them, and to piggyback what Bob said, before you do all of this check your Dad's project in the DP-24 to see what bit deph, i.e. 16-bit or 24-bit, and the sample rate, i.e. 44.1khz or 48khz, these are very important overlooked items, and can be the difference between you being successful in all of this or scratching your head until your hair falls out....lol

Jimi Jones

 

[BobV55]

Thanks, Jimi...your idea of naming tracks is intriguing, and I wonder if it would work within the track naming scheme in the DP-24, and how that ties in to the Undo feature? I have located (trial and error) a vocal track to experiment with iZotope's Nectar on it, but I maintained the original track name, as I didn't know if renaming it would cause a problem. I guess I'm less courageous than you are!

The Nectar experiment didn't pan out - I felt the default presets sounded too artificial, as I've been listening to my friend's vocals for some 30 years now (wow, are we getting old!), and I know how he should sound in a mix. At least we gave it a try!

 

[Jimi Jones]

Bob and Anyone else,

Remember the track is a computer file with the extension of *.wav, so it doesn't matter here, except that for the DP-24/32 the shorter the name the better, for background vocals I usually record 4 parts and bounce them down to a stereo track, so I'll name each mono vocal track as voc1.wav, voc2.wav and so on, this way its easier to see within the DP when I do my importing, and I ALWAYS save the original copies just in case, just don't forget to include the .wav in the name, and you're good to go, and when you rename the track (file) you're not changing the audio properties at all, just the name.

Jimi Jones

 

[Arjan P]

Good naming scheme, Jimi, but may I add another tip: With background vocals I always use the same number for each identical melodic line (but different voice), so three people singing two melodic lines would be Vocal 1A, 1B, 1C and Vocal 2A, 2B and 2C. Resulting in file names voc1a.wav, voc1b.wav etc.

 

[Jimi Jones]

Hello Arjan,

I actually do something of that same nature if I do multiple versions of the same part, but in the end whatever works for you is the end result, you decide how you want the organizational scheme to work, and make backups in case you make a mistake or two, I've made my share of mistakes, and now I make backups of everything religiously, even my entire computer and all projects, and masters, I mixdown to the Tascam DA-3000 recording to DSD at 5.6mhz, then I use Korg's "AudioGate 3" to convert to any of the other PCM rates, i.e. 96khz or 192khz for archival.

Jimi Jones

 

[krd1749]

Thanks for responding BobV55 and Jimi Jones. I recorded the songs in 24 bit 48Hz, and the default in Audacity was set for 32 bit 48000. I corrected the bit rate but still get the same result not being able to import any of the tracks. I have been part of many recording sessions, but this is the first time I have ever been the one doing the editing, mixing down and Mastering. I edited in Audacity because it is a lot veasier than editing on the dp-24. Can either of you give me step by step instructions on what to do to import the files back into the dp-24. My son created Project folders for each song in Audacity, and that is where I edited them. It looks like the song files are a lot smaller or compressed in Audacity. Example: One of my song files is 1.2 gig (all 24 tracks), but when I look at the size of the project file for that song it says 164 kilabits.

Any help would be appreciated. I have 15 songs edited in Audacity and I am ready to mixdown and master them, but I am at a standstill right now.

 

[Jimi Jones]

Hello krd1749,

First of all, with Audacity, you simply want to save any wav files of tracks or complete songs with the proper bit deph i.e 24-bit, and sample rate, i.e. 48khz, use an easy naming convention, i.e. "Drums" or "Keys" or "Gtr", something like that, now save that file or files in a folder on your computer somewhere easy to find, now plug the USB connector from the DP-24 into your computer, the computer should recognize the SDHC card in the DP, and bring it up on your windows computer or MAC whichever flavor you have as a "drive" letter, you will see folders on the SDHC card, one will be called "Audio Depot", you simply copy one of the wav files you created to the "Audio Depot" folder, or copy all the files to that folder, make a note on which files were stereo and which were mono, now unplug the DP-24's USB connector from the computer, and on the DP-24, go to the "Audio Depot folder, and you should see the wav files you just copied from your computer, now once you're there you should be within a DP project already setup with the proper bit deph, i.e. 24-bit, and the sample rate, i.e. 48khz, you will see all of the available tracks mono and stereo to import to, and your wav files will have little boxes to the left for you to put a check on it, so as to select it, you can then select which track to place it on, if you get lost at this point remember to read the manual, it should start to make some sense from here...if not you may want to think about purchasing the DP-24 DVD which will go into this scenario in great detail, hope this works for you.

Jimi Jones

 

[krd1749]

We do have the DVD Tutorial, It's been a year since I watched it, and at the time I was just getting started using the recorder, so I was more focused on learning the basics. I will go back and look at it again. Thanks for your help. I'll let you know how it works out either way.

 

[krd1749]

Jimi,

After reading your instructions and watching that section of the Tutorial DVD it worked. I was a little confused on the renaming the tracks part at first, because in the tutorial David mentions not renaming files, but that was in regards to not renaming the DP-24 system files, not the individual tracks on your wave files. The first time I tried importing the tracks I knew what you meant because the track files all had random file names and we couldn't really tell what was on each track. I used a new formatted SD card, and created new song folders one at a time, and my son and I worked together to name the track files. It was a little bit of a slow process, but it worked. I only had one issue that I need to resolve, and that is that I got a loud pop/click right before the end of one of the songs when I moved it back to the dp-24. When I listen to that song on Audacity there is no click or pop at that location. I'm sure I will be able to resolve that issue though.

I learned another valuable lesson, and that is not to EQ the tracks until after you edit and move the tracks back onto the dp-24, luckily I had taken the time to make up tracking sheets with all my EQ and effects settings for each channel, so I just had to go back in and re-input the information. You can imagine that took a little while with 24 tracks on 15 songs.

Since you are very knowledgable I have one more question. When you are mixing down the songs, do you set the master volume slider at zero and then work up from the bottom on the 24 channels individual volume controls?

I really want to thank you for helping me resolve my importing from Audacity issue. I felt like a big weight was lifted off my shoulders when it worked.

 

[Jimi Jones]

Hello krd1749,

I'm glad that you were able to figure it out...cool, to answer your question about how I mixdown, I actually do set the master fader at zero, then manipulate the individual track faders, I usually start with the Drums and Bass, and develop a cohesive tightness with that, then I'll bring in the main chordal instrument whether its a piano, guitar, or electric piano, or even a synth pad, and get a good EQ from that then move forward sort of randomly.

Jimi Jones

 

[Blaqdynamite]

Ok, I may be slow, dumb or blind. But I can not for the life of me find a way to change the settings for a song. I can see that all of my songs are 16 bit/44.1kh but I do not see a way to change them. Please help

 

[Jimi Jones]

Dig deep, dig deep into the manual, when you first create a song, you can set the bit depth, i.e. 24-bit, and the sample rate, i.e. 48-khz.

Jimi Jones